US Supreme Court agrees to hear Trump asylum ban case

The US Supreme Court agreed on Friday to hear the Trump administration's appeal over an executive order that suspends asylum at the border with Mexico, setting up a ruling by the end of June on how far a president can shut off access to asylum.

Donald Trump signed the order on the first day of his second term in January 2025. A federal judge later found it unlawful, but it has stayed in effect while the case moves through the courts. The administration is asking the justices to overturn that ruling.

Federal law lets people who fear persecution at home apply for asylum however they reach the United States, while the executive branch decides whether a claim is granted. The administration argues it can refuse to accept applications from people covered by the order at all, and should not have to process claims destined to be rejected.

Solicitor General D. John Sauer wrote that the restrictions are "critical" to the border effort and that "since the proclamation took effect, border encounters have fallen by 93 percent, dropping to the lowest levels since the 1960s," the Associated Press reported. Lawyers for the American Civil Liberties Union and other immigration rights groups say crossings were already falling before Trump took office and that the order is an unlawful attempt to "eviscerate" protections for people fleeing danger.

"The plaintiffs in this case fled persecution and torture, including political imprisonment and threats from the Taliban," Keren Zwick, executive director of the National Immigrant Justice Center, said, according to AP. "Yet, the Trump administration refused to honor its obligation to consider them for asylum."

James Percival, general counsel at the Department of Homeland Security, said in a post on X that the order was "the single most important factor in the President's success at the border." The ACLU's lead counsel, Lee Gelernt, said: "The president does not have the right to unilaterally override the protections Congress has afforded those fleeing danger." OSV News reported both statements.

The justices are expected to hear arguments in the spring, AP reported. OSV News said arguments are expected in spring 2027. AP reported that the case is the third major immigration dispute on the court's docket this term, alongside rapid deportation to countries other than a migrant's homeland and indefinite detention during deportation proceedings.

OSV News also reported that the court in June struck down Trump's order limiting birthright citizenship and allowed his administration to end temporary protection from deportation for eligible Haitian and Syrian immigrants.